Chrysotemis: tips for growing and breeding at home

2024 Author: Arianna Cook | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:23

Distinctive features of a plant, how to grow chrysotemis at home, breeding rules, difficulties (diseases and pests) arising from home care, facts to note, species. Chrysotemis (Chrysothemis) is attributed by scientists to the genus of flowering plants that are part of the large Gesneriaceae family. However, in this genus, there are only 7 varieties, while the variety of Friedrichsthal's chrysotemis (Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana) is most often used as a pot culture. The plant can “call” its native lands the territories stretching from Ecuador to Guatemala, as well as regions of central Brazil and Guiana, including Venezuela and the Lesser Antilles. There Chrysothemis thrives in humid forests and mountains, often in those areas, and its height above sea level is quite small.

The scientific name of this representative of the flora was created due to the fusion of two Greek words: "chrysos" meaning "gold or golden" and "themis" translated as "law, rule or justice". But there is another version that the second word is "anthi" or "anthemon", meaning "flowers." Now, when these derivatives are combined, the phrase "golden flower" is obtained. Apparently, the reason for this name was the color of the plant's flowers, which includes bright shades of yellow and orange colors.

Chrysotemis is a herbaceous perennial with tuberous roots, and grows not only on the surface of the soil, but often as an epiphyte, that is, it can find a place on the trunks or thick branches of trees. The height of the "golden flower" does not exceed 35–40 cm. The shape of the stems is straight, sometimes lying to the soil surface, their structure is juicy, tetrahedral. On the shoots, leaf plates on short petioles are arranged in opposite order. The color of the leaves and stems is bronze-green, their surface is rough to the touch. On the leaf there is a pattern created by relief veins, and there is pubescence. There is a serration along the edge.

During flowering, often racemose inflorescences are formed, which are located in the leaf axils or can come out directly from the stem. Inflorescences are crowned with elongated peduncles. In the inflorescence, there are 1-9 buds. Sepals grow conjoined and tall, taking the shape of a bell or almost water lily outlines, occasionally there are wings. The sepals can be yellow, green, orange or red. The corolla in the flower is tubular, swollen, bell-shaped, it has a bend with 5 lobes. The tops of the limb are rounded. Corolla color is bright yellow, orange or golden yellow, but can be red with darker stripes.

Inside the rim of the chrysotemis there are two pairs of stamens, they are spliced, the threads are thin, flattened. The shape of the anthers is rounded, their surface is covered with longitudinal grooves, the anthers are invisible from the corolla. The outline of the ovary is spherical, conical or resembling an egg in shape, it is convex, its surface is pubescent. When flowers are pollinated, which in nature is carried out by bees, miniature hummingbirds, or even possibly with the help of ants, fruits ripen in the form of fleshy bolls with two valves. Their shape can be either ball or ovoid. The calyx surrounds the fetus, either fused or completely intact.

The growth rate of chrysotemis is quite high and if you do not violate the rules of care, then the plant will delight the owner for several years. In leaving, this representative of the flora is not quite capricious, but still there are some requirements, like many Gesneriaceae.

Rules for growing chrysotemis at home

Lighting. When cultivating a plant, you will need a place with diffused but bright lighting. You can put the pot on the sill of the east or west window. In the southern location, shading will be required, since the leaves can burn under the direct streams of ultraviolet radiation. There will not be enough light on the windowsill of the northern room, and flowering may not come, but the foliage grinds.
Content temperature Chrysothemis should be in the spring-summer months in the range of 20-25 degrees, and with the arrival of winter it is reduced to 16 units. The plant is thermophilic and is afraid of drafts.
Air humidity. For chrysotemis, it is recommended to maintain high humidity levels, but spraying is prohibited due to pubescence on the leaf plates. Then you will need to use other methods: put containers with water next to the pot, set the flowerpot on a tray with moistened expanded clay, or use air humidifiers.
Watering. Since the plant is a "native" from the tropical regions of the planet, it is necessary to regularly moisten the soil in the spring-summer period, so that it never dries out. But waterlogging of the soil should not be allowed, especially if Chrysothemis is kept in conditions with low temperatures. When the flowering process is underway, the watering should be especially abundant, but when the liquid drains into the stand under the pot, then after 5-10 minutes it is drained. In the summer, you can perform the so-called "bottom watering", when the container with the plant is immersed in a basin of water for 15–20 minutes. After that, the pot is taken out, allowed to drain and put in a permanent place of growth. When flowering has not yet begun or has already ended, the watering is kept moderate, in this case it is necessary that the top layer of the soil dries out slightly. It is recommended to use only soft and warm water. Distilled, bottled, or harvested rainwater can be used. If this is not possible, then the water from the water supply must be passed through a filter, then it is boiled (about 30 minutes) and left to settle so that lime sediment remains at the bottom of the container. After a couple of days, such a liquid can be carefully drained without capturing the part at the bottom and used for watering.
Fertilizers for chrysotemis, it must be applied throughout the growing season (from spring to September). The frequency of feeding will be once every 14 days. The preparations are used for indoor flowering plants, released in liquid form, but the dosage should be halved.
Transplantation and selection of soil. When the end of winter comes or spring is just beginning, it is possible to transplant chrysotemis, and such an operation is performed annually. If the tubers were on storage, then they are simply planted in a previously prepared container. Otherwise, carefully knock out an earthen lump with tubers from the pot (easily tap on the walls of the pot, then turn it over and try to remove the plant) and place it in a new flowerpot. A layer of drainage material (expanded clay, pebbles or broken clay shards) is laid on the bottom of the new container. The primer for Chrysothemis is selected lightweight and with good breathability. You can use commercial formulations for representatives of the Gesneriaceae or mix the substrate yourself. Its components will be: garden soil, coarse sand (perlite), moistened high-moor peat or humus (leafy earth). Everything is taken in equal volumes and then a little lime is added to this soil mixture.
General advice on care. With the arrival of summer heat, it is necessary to take the pot with the plant out onto the street, track or balcony, but find a place in the shade from the direct rays of the sun. Chrysothemis has a dormant period when its entire aerial part dies off. The tubers should then be stored in a container with dry sand in a dark and cool place.

Chrysotemis breeding rules

In order to get a new bush with golden flowers, it is recommended to carry out cuttings, dividing the tuber, planting daughter formations or sowing seeds.

With the arrival of spring, you can start reproduction of chrysotemis using cuttings cut from the tops of the shoots. To do this, the sections of the blanks must be treated with a root formation stimulator before planting (Kornevin or heteroauxinic acid may be suitable). Cuttings are planted in pots filled with a loose substrate of sand and peat, taken in equal parts or peat with perlite. Then containers with cuttings should be placed in a mini-greenhouse - for this, the pot is covered with a plastic transparent bag or placed under a glass vessel. There is another way, when the bottom of a plastic bottle is cut off and the top part with a cork is used. This device will allow you to easily ventilate without removing the "shelter".

The rooting temperature is maintained at about 20 degrees. You will need to carry out daily airing for 10-15 minutes, and if the soil begins to dry out, then it is moistened. When the cuttings take root, they can be transplanted into a more fertile substrate, placed in pots with a diameter of 9 cm.

When transplanting, if it is noticed that the tuber of the mother specimen of chrysotemis has grown very much, then it can be divided. This is done using a sharpened knife. Just do not divide too small, it is important that each division has a sufficient number of roots and leaves. All sections are sprinkled with crushed activated carbon and the cuttings are planted in separate containers. Until the plants have passed the adaptation period, then you should not put them under too bright lighting.

When Chrysothemis is quite adult, small nodules with aerial root processes can form in its leaf sinuses. Such daughter formations (children) are carefully separated from an adult bush and planted in small pots with drainage at the bottom and suitable soil. For seed propagation, sowing is carried out in pots filled with a peat-sand mixture, pre-moistened. Then the containers are covered with a piece of glass or plastic wrap. When leaving, the temperature is maintained at 20-24 degrees. It is necessary to daily ventilate and, if necessary, moisten the soil from a fine-dispersed spray gun. When the chrysotemis seeds germinate, they should be dived twice. At the same time, a transplant is carried out: first, in pots with a diameter of 7 cm (when a pair of real leaf plates appear on the seedling), and a little later, by transferring (without destroying the earthen lump), a transplant is performed, in containers with a diameter of 9 cm.

Difficulties with home care for chrysotemis

The "Golden Flower" suffers with constant violations of conditions of detention from attacks of harmful insects, among which are:

Spider mite, forming a thin translucent cobweb on leaves and shoots, causing deformation of young foliage, its yellowing and discharge.
Mealybug, characterized by whitish cotton-like formations in internodes and on the back of the leaves, as well as covering them with a sugary sticky bloom.
Whitefly, which from the very beginning is not particularly visible, since the insect lays its eggs on the back of the leaf in the form of white specks, but over time the whole bush begins to be covered by a swarm of white small midges that fly over the plant when touched.
Thrips, which suck nutritious juice from the leaves, destroying the cell tissue, in such places the leaf turns yellow, and then these areas grow, and a hole forms in the center.

You will immediately need to carry out treatment with an insecticidal preparation, for example, Aktara, Aktellik or Fitoverm.

With constant waterlogging of the substrate, it is possible to be affected by various fungal diseases and rot. Because of this, the chrysotemis is rotting not only the root processes, but also the root collar. If the formation of a raid of gray color is visible on the shoots and leaf plates, then this is a lesion with gray rot. In such diseases, it is recommended that the affected parts be cut off and burned, and then treated with a fungicide, and in the latter case, also with Bordeaux liquid.

Of the problems that arise when growing Chrysothemis at home, one can single out:

If drops of moisture fall on the foliage during watering, then yellow spots are formed on the surface due to pubescence.
With insufficient flowering, excess mineral fertilizers or too dry indoor air, flowering may not occur.
If the light level is low, then the color of the foliage fades.
When watering is poor, the humidity in the room is low and the lighting is too weak, the buds of the plant can fly around.

Facts to note about chrysotemis, photo

According to some versions, the name chrysotemis was given in honor of one of the daughters of the king of Mycenae, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra (daughter of Leda and Tyndareus). The girl's name was Chrysofemis. The first described this genus by the botanist from France Joseph Decaisne (fr. Joseph Decaisne, 1807-1882), but having a Belgian origin. And since the scientist was the author of many plants, united according to certain classifications (taxa), it is customary to add the abbreviation "Decne" to the names of such flora representatives, indicating the person who described them. In this genus Chrysothemis, you can count up to 12 cultivars or species (species or sp., This is how plants are usually called, the origin of which can be accurately traced only to the genus and their species does not reliably have a definition). Therefore, it is officially accepted that there are only seven varieties in the genus.

Chrysotemis species

Chrysotemis beautiful (Chrysothemis pulchella (Donn ex Sims) Decne.) is a squat perennial plant with underground tubers and highly decorative foliage. A rosette is assembled from leaf plates, while each leaf is crowned with a juicy and dense petiole. The leaf plate itself is also dense and its surface is decorated with well-visible veins. The leaf has teeth on the edge. The general background of the foliage is green, but there is some bronze tint. The surface of the petioles is covered with pubescence of densely spaced hairs, which, when touched, create a velvety feeling. During flowering, bell-shaped flowers are formed, the color of the corolla of which is bright yellow or golden-orange, the sepals have a red color. The flowering process occurs in the summer, during these months, in the upper part of the shoots, loose racemose inflorescences are formed.
Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana (Hanst.) H. E. Moore). The plant has a yellow or green calyx, the corolla is also bright golden yellow to orange, with a five-petal limb. The flowers are surrounded by long, light green bracts that resemble bell-shaped flowers. The shape of the leaves is elliptical to ovoid, with a serrated edge. Usually the leaves are arranged in pairs along the tetrahedral stems. The color of both stems and leaves is rich, green with a bronze sheen. There is a pattern of veins on the leaves.